SAN ANTONIO – The trek from the court back to the visitors’ dressing room at the AT&T Center is longer than most in the NBA. It requires Spurs opponents to slip through the tunnel at one end and then head down, beneath the stands, almost to the other end. A basic salt-and-pepper, industrial-strength mat shows them the way, behind a little iron railing.

On nights like Sunday, in the moments after their Game 5 elimination from The 2014 Finals, it’s way more perp walk than red carpet.

One by one, the Heat players, coaches and staff trod along that path, San Antonio’s on-court celebration revving up and booming through the building. LeBron James walked fast, head high, a phalanx of cameras and reporters tracking each step. Dwyane Wade came a few beats later, bare-chested, his Miami jersey gifted at some point after the final horn. They were stone-faced, revealing nothing beyond the harshness and letdown of the outcome.

Ray Allen strode by with purpose, inscrutable, deep in thoughts that surely didn’t include cheeseburgers. Then Pat Riley, looking almost wistful, resigned or ground down by the 70-point differential between his team and the Spurs (the fattest cumulative margin in Finals history). Chris Bosh paused, turned and shook hands with Heat assistant Bob McAdoo. Shane Battier spied a friend, smiled briefly and pantomimed a golf swing, a sign of his impending retirement.

None of them looked happy, obviously. None of them, however, was brought to his knees.

That, after all, is social media’s job, along with the rest of this what-have-you-done-for-me-five-minutes-from-now culture. It musters no patience, offers no comfort and certainly treats nothing sacred, particularly with this team, whose critics outnumber its fans 10-to-1, maybe 100-to-1.

However unceremonious its march into the offseason, Miami had wrapped up four consecutive trips to The Finals. The first, against Dallas in 2011, brought hard lessons and a little humility. The next two produced Larry O’Brien trophies, just like they all had pictured it. This one, three straight beatdowns still hanging in the air, had been telegraphed by slippage in the Heat’s defensive ranks and the loss (via amnesty) of Mike Miller from last year’s team.

This one carried with it some payback from the Spurs, who had been on the other side last June,and it naturally brought a skidload of questions, speculation and uncertainty.

Because this was the Heat and that’s how they roll.

So, Erik Spoelstra, have you guys underachieved? That’s how it went and that’s how it will go for days and weeks and months, now that the ol’ smoke-and-lasers pep rally back of July 2010 (“Not one, not two, not three…”) officially has stopped at two, at least temporarily.

Spoelstra referred to it as “the exaggeration that’s out there.”

“Even as painful as it feels right now, you have to have perspective,” the Heat coach said. “Even the team we’re playing against has never been to the Finals four straight years. You can’t be jaded enough not to appreciate that.”

Wanna bet? Only two other franchises – Boston and the Minneapolis/L.A. Lakers – ever had made it to four Finals in a row. But this was supposed to be about rings, not runners-up. It’s the life they chose, once James, Wade and Bosh conspired to sign with Miami four years ago and gild their resumes through a strength-in-superstar-numbers approach.

Now it’s about the expectations they face. And the urgency to somehow fix things. And the criticism, the gripes and the second-guesses. A lot of people have been waiting for this slip by Miami. Plenty of others, even among Heat fans, are anxiously wondering what’s next. Entertain us.

Even if the Heat had pulled off the three-peat, the team’s future would have been in play. Its stars all have opt-out clauses in their contracts, Battier and maybe Allen will be gone and clearly the roster needed more last summer than Michael Beasley and Greg Oden. It needs even more now after the gap exposed between Miami and San Antonio, the shaky play at point guard and the need to get stronger in the paint.

Spoelstra praised the Spurs – twice – for their exquisite basketball and, like others on the Miami side, sounded humbled by how thoroughly San Antonio dispatched them. “It’s a big disappointment feeling like this,” Spoelstra said.”It’s an incredibly empty feeling.”

Said Bosh: “They exposed us, you know. They picked us apart. They made us question what we were doing and we were always behind the whole time. They played faster, they played stronger, they played tougher and they played like they wanted it more and they played with more pain.”

Nothing hangs over Miami’s immediate future quite like James’ decision on free agency in the next few weeks. He could opt-out and re-sign with Miami. He could opt-in and give it all one more season. He could opt-out and vamoose, turned off by the load he lugged down the stretch (he scored 31 points in Game 5, the other four Heat starters combined for 32).

There have been more than a few references lately to “the Miami Cavaliers,” a nod to the limited help he got in these playoffs from other Heat players, similar to the Cleveland teams he carried in his first four seasons. And that “1 Through 5″ nickname Spoelstra hung on James for his ability to defend any position has morphed for some into “1 On 5,” given the way he too often had to play this year.

James is 2-3 in The Finals now – one big separation from Michael Jordan (6-0) – and those inclined to dislike him would love to push him toward 1-4. Y’know, if not for that Allen 3-pointer late in Game 6 last year…

“Obviously they all hurt,” James said. “This year they dominated us from every facet of the game – offensively, defensively. … [But] I’ve been able to be a part of five of them. I would love to sit up here and say I was 5-0, but I’m not. I’m 2-3.”

As for his future – be it in Miami, Cleveland or anywhere else, with or without Carmelo Anthony added to the Heat’s pricey mix – James was circumspect as he digested the disappointment Sunday.

“I will deal with my summer when I get to that point,” he said from behind a pair of tinted glasses. “Me and my team will sit down and deal with it. I love Miami. My family loves it. But obviously right now that’s not even what I’m thinking about.

“You guys are trying to find answers. I’m not going to give you one. I’m just not going to give it to you.”

Wade was cagey, too. Spoelstra and the Heat’s medical staff had turned him into a part-time player this season for the express purpose of having him rested and fresh for another long postseason. Yet he was no factor by the end, shooting 7-of-25 for 21 points, total, in Games 4 and 5. The Miami shooting guard had 18 turnovers to 13 assists in The Finals, so his game was aching even if he wasn’t.

“Nothing,” Wade said when asked about health issues vs. the Spurs. “Just struggled a little bit. As I told you guys, I’m never going to point at anything physically.”

Since he wouldn’t cop to anything specific, knees, hamstring or otherwise, Wade’s response gave life to theories that he somehow had grown old in a hurry the past 10 days. And fuels its own speculation about the 32-year-old’s value going forward, helper vs. hindrance.

“It wasn’t just Dwyane,” Spoelstra said. “It was pretty much everybody except for LeBron, and we just weren’t able to get into our normal rhythm.”

Wade wasn’t feeling introspective afterward, either – he too wore shades – but he did talk a bit about the big picture of coming together as teammates, visions of Finals trips and a couple more trophies dancing in their heads.

“It’s been a hell of a ride these four years,” Wade said. “We’d love to be 4-for-4, it just wasn’t in the cards for us to be that.”

So it starts anew, another phase to the Miami stars’ grand experiment, every aspect of their love ‘em-or-hate ‘em quest for specialness (on the court and off) chronicled and distilled for maximum drama. The Spurs will be the defending champions next time around. The Heat? Merely, and always, the guys with the targets on their backs.

“The whole league continues to get better every single year,” James said. “Obviously, we would need to get better from every facet, every position. It’s just how the league works.”

268 Comments

Well,I’m sure Lebron will try to go to another stacked team and see if he can put together another all-star squad to try and put himself in rare air with MJ/Kobe…just don’t bet on it! I think he has peaked and,like Kobe,all the games and playoff games add up and you can see the little signs of wear and tear creeping on Lebron. I never thought he would win a title and he proved me wrong,however,if not for “The Decision” one has to wonder would he have managed to lead the team he started his career with to a championship? Lebron is a great player,a sure-fire Hall of Famer,the mistake that is made far too often is to compare him to MJ,Kobe,Bird,Magic etc. those guys were stone faced KILLERS,so competitive that they would do anything to win and they all lived and breathed basketball…Lebron doesn’t and that is not a knock on him just a fact. Just watch the Bulls and Lakers during their latest championship runs and I think you will see a clear difference in them and how the Heat play. Heat are a great team,just not in the top 5 all-time like some want to put them. For the record,I hate the fact that players can get together and stack teams,just not how it should be done in my opinion but everyone has their own opinion and I’m just stating mine. Peace everyone.

Get over it. The Miami Heat never played like a championship team the entire regular season. They gave us a preview of what was to come. I could care less if the big 3 stay or go because I’m not a Heat fan. But I will be tuned to see what will happen to ALL of the free agents in the upcoming weeks. Go Thunder!

There were too many EGOS in Miami, all that talk, the “decision” etc etc, blah blah blah.. So many articles talk about the way the Heat played, the excuses, not many at all start off with saying how UNSELFISH and GREAT the ENTIRE Spurs team played!! And that’s sad.. but who cares really, I’m glad I didn’t and NEVER will pay to see any sports game.. Lebron, Wade, Bosh, etc etc are ALL laughing their way All the way to the bank on their 200+dollar shoes, that most kids that’ll never even make it out of highschool or into college, they are buying.. again it’s hilarious whats actually important these days!

I agree with this MJ vs LBJ talk. Quit comparing. MJ is the King of Basketball, mentally. LeBron is physically the King of Basketball. For Starters, Does anyone think MJ was NBA-Ready out of High-School? Most certainly not. A skinny kid with skills, to say the least. LeBron was NBA-Ready probably his Junior year of High School, Physically. LeBron doesn’t see the game like he’s the Best Player, which MJ arrogantly knew during his Era. It does all come down to this Killer Instinct the Media puts out there. The Best Player with Killer Instinct won’t allow a team to breathe any points. Whether scoring is needed, or a defensive play is needed to send a message. All that aside, Coaching credit goes to Dean Smith, for developing the Best Player of All Time during his 3 years in College. We can dream about LeBron going to college, but he developed his game through competition, not coaching. Now he’s the Best Player in the League, with no direction. So now my 2 Cents. MJ out of High School wouldn’t have made the NBA Finals in his 4th year. Give LeBron Credit for that. MJ was in a Major City like Chicago, LeBron was in Cleveland making the Finals. Give him credit for that. Chicago had finances to pretty much sign anybody they wanted. Cleveland Owner Dan Gilbert made it clear he wasn’t signing anybody with max money that would fit with LeBron. 2 different players, too different situations. LeBron should’ve left Cleveland after his Rookie Contract ended. He was a “nice guy” and gave Cleveland 4 more years…

its funny when all else fails, haters and bandwaggoners alike blame Coach Spo. haha.. ignorant people always says the following:

1.) he is an amateur coach and overrated (Really? do you think Pat Riley is stupid enough, if he feels the same way? )

2.) Anyone can be a coach of the Miami Heat and win a Championship just look at the Roster (Again, really? are you ignorant fools damn serious about that? Coaches manage attitude of his players not just the playbooks. take a look at D’Antoni and the lakers, they have the stars but the coach can’t manage them. Oh and don’t forget Mike Brown & Del Negro too.)

3.) He doesnt know how to adjust to the opponent’s lineup (No matter how you mix and match your players to your opponents it always comes down to consistency of the players, Miami’s Bench are all inconsistent offensively and defensively, coaches can only do so much, but as always it will come down to his player’s will and desire to win.

When Miami won 2012 & 2013 Championships, it was all “Nice job LeBron, Dwyane and Bosh” but when Miami is struggling or Loss to the Finals haters and bandwaggoners are like “It’s Spo’s fault he doesn’t know what he is doing bla bla bla”

I am a Heat Fan for 1 and a half decade now, since Spoelstra take over as Miami’s Coach he helped Wade and a bunch of role players reach the playoffs, which D’ Antoni (a former COTY) did it only once with the knicks, oh and Mike Woodson too I almost forgot haha.

Sadly, Hate on Spo is much more than about him being Miami’s Coach. You guys can deny it but thats the truth.

Why do Heat fans keep talking about the players?? Adding Centers, dropping Chalmers, blah blah blah. Their roster was fine. I’m surprised the Heat weren’t more challenging after a cup cake east coast this year going against a dinosaur spurs team, maybe they would have had some energy. And please stop with Lebron GOAT talk. He was never even statistically close to Jordan. Jordan: NCAA: Naismeth national player of the year, National champ. NBA: 6-0 in the finals, never even went to a game 7! James: No college. 2-3 in the finals.

Exactly! DRUM ROLLS for your ignorance!!
Just so you IGNORANTS of your caliber make it hard to celebrate a great Win.The article was doing just fine until troller stepped in.You so glued on Lj nuts meanwhile he is married with a beautiful wife and kids and has more success than your entire generations will not see.
With that said CONGRATS to the UNITED NATIONS of basketball
Parker:France
Ginobli: Argentina
Binellini: Italy
Tiago: Brazil
Mills: Australia
Cory:Canada
Diaw : France
Duncan: Virgin Islands
….Just to name a few

Two words: spell check……and wouldn’t it be helpful if you knew the names of the players of the team that you’re a fan of(Bellinelli)? Also chew on this word: geography. Last time I checked, the Virgin Islands were not a nation, they’re the US Virgin Islands.

I am an avid Miami Heat fan. I was excited to see my team make it to the finals once again. I must say however, that the San Antonio Spurs outplayed the hell out of us and won fair and square. They did an outstanding job and deserved to win the championship. Congrats to you guys and your fans!
That being said, Miami needs to make some major changes and make them fast. Get rid of Chalmers, Wade, Oden (useless), Beasley fast. Trade Anderson, he has no rhythm (jump timing always off) which results in minimum rebounds. Allen and Battier need to retire. Let’s get a good center (Noah-like) and dependable guards. Also, Coach needs to coach and run his team, the players have TOO much say. LeBron can not win by himself no matter where he goes. You have the funds, make it happen and drop the dead weight.

what i seen in this finals was a heat team playing lazy on both ends of the floor. The reason why they lost this seris is lebron played lazy on offense and held the ball alot point being….lebron isnt good enough to take possesions off hes not jordan or kobe…………….. if lebron dosnt play his hardest for 48 min on both ends they wont ever win again. His defense was horrible aswell lenord blew by him multiple times lebron james is no were near greatest ever

The heats coach is weak if popp was coaching that squad they wouldve had more success, hell the spurs only had one all star this year and he was a reserve. Heat had 3, 2starters and one reserve (bosh didnt deserve it buts its the the east) I knew the heat were gonna lose before the game started when they announced that ray allen was starting, good job sploetra!! u took away all the firepower off ur bench haha what a joke, great work popp for exposing the phony coach that doesnt belong there

The sooner this Riley-manufactured game-disrespecting cabal ends the better it will be for the NBA and for everyone. Jordan, Bird and Magic could have all conspired to play for the same team for less money and they could have won 10 championships together…but they had too much integrity and respect for the game to do it. These Miami championships will always have an asterisk in the record books and never be equal to REAL, LEGITIMATE Championships of past great players. Lebron should return to Cleveland and win championships for his home town that hasn’t won one in any sport in in 50 years. Then he can truly have a chance at being the greatest player ever. It can’t happen in Miami.

“So, Erik Spoelstra, have you guys underachieved? That’s how it went and that’s how it will go for days and weeks and months”

show your disposition to crucify the opposition which is why I didn’t read the entire article and probably never will. As a member of the media you pretend to objectivity but lean to bias and I get tired of the tedious drama… The drama is not the HEAT’s. It
s yours… That’s how you collect your pennies…by skewering whoever you perceive as not being WORTHY of the honors bestowed upon them. I can only wish you the same fate in digital media as has befallen the print media… approaching extinction. I have befaned ( new word: means to become a fan of … such as in befriend…) any number of teams over the years. Jets, 49’ers, Knicks, Golden State and ah yes the HEAT. I just hope when you go to the great beyond with all the other media hypers, reputation dashers and builders that dwell in the sports media world… your lot will be to have to read over and over again everyday someone else’s editorials regarding your strengths and weaknesses. The HEAT will go on for some years to come as the great organization that it is with or without your editorials…

I am sick and tired of hearing how the Heat have gone to 4 consecutive finals. Puhlease!! They were coming out of the weak azzed East for pete’s sake. Shouldn’t that at the very least have an asterick by it because the East was and is so weak? The question that should be asked, is how many finals would they have made the last 4 years had they been in the West? I doubt they would have made 4 finals let alone won 2 titles. And don’t give me, but they had to beat a team from the West to win those 2 titles. Bullbutter!! They didn’t have to run through a gauntlet of West teams that’s the difference. Three teams vs one team hmmmm which would be easier? By the time they faced a West team for the title they had already been tenderized for them. Which is why the playoff teams should be combined and seeded. Because whoever comes out of the East has an easier time of it then anyone coming out of the West.

Miami was tired , 4 consecutive years in the finals, HISTORY , 2X CONSECUTIVE CHAMPIONS what you can ask more.. . Game OVER 2014 , it’s NBA CHAMPIONSHIP, you cannot win it all , or else other team will get frustrated, sometimes you WIN some time you LOSS ,, Summer Time , Miami need to upgrade their line-up, they need very good centers and very good point guards and deepen their bench player , RE ORGANIZED MIAMI , THEN TRY TO COMEBACK NXT YEAR IN PLAYOFF . BE CONSISTENT

it was a different time when the celtics won 8 straight and jordan won his 6 rings. the talent level of the league was not the same back then. teams now are way closer in competiton and therefore you cant compare

I think the EC in the ’90s was much harder than it is now, so you’re more or less pointless.
Jordan faced, along 2 other hall of famer and coached by the greatest ever, also very good teams in the finals, the Drexler’s Blazers, the Payton/Kemp Sonics, the Sloan/Stockton/Malone Jazz, and he won.

Not saying that the Heat didn’t deserve their two championships, but “all time greats” make “all time great” records.

They put historical season in 2013. A 27 game winning streak that led to the championship. Spurs is good but still hasn’t won back to back! MIAMI will be back fully reloaded. These people from spurs cant be smarter than Pat Riley. Haters wait and see what we gonna do next season

Hypothetically if Pop is coaching the Heat roster since big 3 era. It would be a disappointment if they won’t get a 4-peat. I don’t know what they had in mind and let Spoelstra do the head. Yeah sure he made 4 Finals appearance but look at his roster. He has magnificent cards and doesn’t know how to use them. His play style doesn’t evolve. Everyone in the league knew what’s the Heat weakness and he knew it and didn’t manage to adjust. Look at what happen in this Finals, sure Lebron is scoring as much as he can, but we’ve seen he made his point mostly in jumpshot which won’t build a rhythm. Sure he cook some good play but most of his play won’t last for long, he’s good at making plays after timeout but that’s it. I’m disappointed to see the Heat losing not on talent wise but on coaching wise. I’m hoping for a revamp for the Heat and let Pat Riley do the coaching. Get rid of Oden he might be bad charm as T-Mac was in the spurs last year lol

James and the Heat will be right back to where they were these last four years!….This demoralizing defeat that was the 2014 NBA Finals, they may have needed just that. After four consecutive Finals appearances (five overall), including two straight titles (three overall), the league may have awoken a sleeping giant. They have the greatest weapon in LeBron James and the team is yet to utilize that advantage to it’s full potential. The Heat’s mastermind Pat Riley is too talented not to know what it’ll take to keep James in South Beach. As long as the “Best Player in the World” resides in Miami, the Heat aren’t expected to dwindle anytime soon. Besides, who would question James leaving the Heat? He knows better. Everyone does.

what planet do you live on? the grizzlies didnt destroy the thunder, they won a few OT games and they lost fool. okc played rubbish and they still won. game 7 was domination by thunder, so im not sure what your point is. there are a lot of teams in the west who can beat miami

Perfect example of how a good coach like Pop can make a team of old and random role players play such perfect beautiful basketball and how an amateur coach like Spo can make a team full of stars, the KING and big names play such disgusting and ugly basetball. That was probably the biggest Coaching mismatch in NBA history. The Heat will never reach their full potential as long as Spo is on the sideline. It honestly doesn’t matter what kinda players we get this off season cause Spo never knows how to use a player effectively anyways..

People gotta wake up and stop looking to blame players. At the end of the day, this coach doesn’t do anything a coach is supposed to to help the team win. People don’t realize it because he likes to stay under the radar but seriously just listen to his interviews at least. The guy doesn’t know anything about coaching. He just praises other teams and talks about how they need to focus and that every game is competitive. He post game interviews can be used from game 1 of regular season to the last game of the finals. ITS SO GENERIC That he can use the same answers in every single interview which proves that he doesn’t know a thing about coaching.

The media always focusses on the “star”. The issues the Miami Heat have are deep, as deep as their bench but also in their starters. They are just not good enough. If they played in the West, they would probably have gone beyond the second round. Any of the teams in the West who were in the playoffs would have caused major problems for the Heat. They have no point guard, their shooting guard cannot jump or shoot, and Bosh is just not as good as some of the big men in the interior. They have real problems. Where do you start? And as for LeBron, where can he go where there is enough room for his ego? The better teams share leadership, they are not going to want someone who takes over. That is for Cleveland not the San Antonio’s of this sport.

frustation, humility, speculation and drama DID NOT GAVE YOUR KING ANY RING. he should opt to a stronger this coming season. Leave dumb COLE, old WADE, shooter? BOSH, frustrated BIRDMAN just like what you did to CAVS for you to earn your ring..come on! you have not beat neither Kobe or MJ..3-peat huh?!?!?now you’re getting humble and humble..you’re time will come to retirement and you shpould be like TIMMY, TONY and MANU, living a simple B-Ball life as CHAMPIONS..

I’m still trying to figure out why everyone is hating on Lebron for joining the Miami Heat? Anyone who knows basketball knows that there haven’t been more than a handful of teams EVER that have won 1 let alone multiple Championships without multiple HALL OF FAME PLAYERS! And I never heard anyone say anything about Boston when Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett went to Boston..

Well, that’s because both Ray Allen and Garnett were already into their 30’s, with a rapidly closing window, not two young guys who were right there in their prime. Besides, LeBron and his entourage where total idiots with the “decision”, that was PR at its worst

Let me just say this. Every team that played the spurs in these playoffs looked like a jv team compared to them. (Except for Dallas) Does that mean every team should blowup their teams. NO!!! I also believe the hatred or jealousy towards lebron is because of the media, particularly from espn. He got so much love and hyped by them, that people got tired of it. He was the self-proclaimed king and crowned and celebrated before he did or won anything. That rubbed many fans the wrong way. N then the decision…… What else can I say.. But he is the King now a days and there is no denying that.

Game 7 of Season 2014-15. Miami Heat vs Western Conference contender team. Game tied 99-99 and 11 seconds left on the clock. Are you going to take LeFlop for your last shot? Or you ask Ray Allen to come back from his deserved retire? Hitting the very last shot of crucial games (beside dominating it), that’s what a king is made for and His Airness is my King

After reading all the comments, I couldn’t help but laugh at whoever you are “K”. Especially this comment, “So since they won a championship that’s how basketball should be played…?”

Yes fool, that’s exactly what that means. I understand you are a “true” Heat fan, but you’re letting that fan-emotion portray you as a mindless LeBron drone, spewing Heat love and Spur hate, all over the place.

Spurs are the best team in basketball. They have been the best organization in basketball for the last 15 years, showing up to the playoffs every single year since Duncan came aboard. The Heat are basically doing the same thing since Bron joined, but your discrediting of this Spurs team is very uneducated.

James told his team follow my lead and he indeed led for the first quarter. After that he seemed to disappear. Here’s a guy with the ability to get to the rim every time and draw fouls yet he almost exclusively shot from the outside for most of the game. Being that the rest if his team didnt even bother to show up he really needed to dominate the whole game. When the spurs came back in the second it seemed to just take the wind right out of the heats sails and that was all she wrote. This was a great final similar to when Detroit, another team without a superstar beat the Lakers. Loved It! Team basketball, solid, defense, ball movement and excellent coaching wins championships.

Dissappeared that’s a bit thick when the man went 30+ 10 and 5 so sounds like a lebron type of night he had 32 almost a tie with the rest of the starters combined sounds like you wanted him to be the kid that lost to the spurs in Cleveland he’s a team player keep up with his game.

i don’t really understand why people hate LBJ so much..i mean come on guys? do you know the word “statistics”?
if you look at the stats, LBJ is a VERY GOOD player. He may not be the best, but no one can say that he is not a good player. If you look at his career stats in the reg season or the playoffs, he’s among the very top. SO obviously he’s doing the right thing? When he decided to leave CLE, it’s not to join superstars and gang up on weak teams, he just took the opportunity to win with a team that has the ability to give him that win. Something that the Cavs were not give him.
Plus, MJ said it himself, it’s not the best player people should be arguing about, it should be the best TEAM. And if you ask me, MJ’s right, it’s the Bulls Team who had a League record 72 wins in a season.
So the bottomline is, if you really want to hate or bash someone, it shouldn’t be LBJ.. why not hate players like Kwame Brown, or OLOWAKANDI, who failed to deliver for their teams after being drafted so high.. because right now, LBJ is delivering quite good tbh.. But he needs to be in good company, coz right now he’s like under USPS, and he needs to be like UPS, or Fedex or something..

Um, you might want to back track on the comment about him teaming up with superstars to beat other teams. That’s exactly why he joined the heat. To be a supreme team to win multiple championships. They can gather as many great players as they want, but it comes down to a team effort… The heat looking to acquire Melo already discredits your statement about wanting to gang up on weaker teams. Nothing against the heat players, who are great, but it’s more of a team management issue. With the pool of talent the heat have, they should be better. There’s just no strategy and execution for their talents to blossom as they had hoped. So as seen, they burned out.

are you really stupid? People hate him because of The Decision. He was beloved prior to that and he could’ve moved teams without doing that and most people (except maybe Cleveland) would still love him. Everybody knows he is the best active player. They just think he’s a douche because of The Decision, it has nothing to do with skill. And in fact he’s shown that he is actually not a bad guy, but it will take time for people to forgive him because of The Decision.

It’s amazing how someone can get hated because they did something completely routine; some players move around 8 times or more in the NBA. I suppose LJ will get hated if he tweets that he’ll brush his teeth 3 times a day rather than 2 (okay maybe that’s stretching it). Four straight finals (starting immediately after he left Cleveland), two championship rings, an MVP, Finals MVP, a Gold Medal, and several broken records is not too bad. Great decision don’t you think?

For LBJ to win multiple championships, he needs to realize that the key for his mission has been in front of him all along. Teaming up with wade and bosh seemed like a good idea, but you can clearly see that 3 all-stars can not get it done. Heat do not have good team management. Spo does not know how to manage mins for his players. Although the players deny that fatigue and physical limitations were a factor, it was obvious in the Finals. Join the spurs’ TEAM and intellectual coach(Pop). That’s how Jordan got his 2 three-peats. Good TEAM mates and an outstanding coach in Phil Jackson. LBJ + spurs = nightmare for the other organizations in the NBA!

So!!! Is that what GREAT players do?? Play when the team is GOOD… and when they are going through difficult times find another team. Crazy… Every Lebron fan dreams about every “different” team (usually surrounded with ALL STAR) caliber players he can go too. Lebron will get 6+ rings.. But with 6+ diff teams….

Perfect example of how a good coach like Pop can make a team of old and random role players play such perfect beautiful basketball and how an amateur coach like Spo can make a team full of stars, the KING and big names play such disgusting and ugly basetball. That was probably the biggest Coaching mismatch in NBA history. The Heat will never reach their full potential as long as Spo is on the sideline. It honestly doesn’t matter what kinda players we get this off season cause Spo never knows how to use a player effectively anyways..

LeBron….remember that song? Go West!
I think you’re the best player in the league and you deserve a better team and you deserve a coach as big as you. You’ve won the championships you needed, now, time to move on and learn to play team basketball. And you don’t need a superstar, an all star game player. You just need a team that dont think you’re the king. A team that shares the charge with you and calls the game to theirself. I hope you can deal with that, tho.
Wade…you’re the franchise player and you deserve to stay in that team with all the honors. But its time to consider playing like Manu and being the 6th man, getting in the game to REALLY make the difference during all the time you’re on the floor. Time comes for everybody. You dont need to hold it back….you just need to accept you need to rest too.
Bosh, Time to ask for a help in the key to the Heat’s GM. You know that’s your limitation and you must accept you’re not really a Center. You need some help from a former NBA center too… you should ask Kareem to help ya. Come on, you’re such a great shooter. You need to start thinking of stepping to the key a bit more, even hating contact as you do. hehe

In the playoffs, particularly in the finals, it is precisely when a player starts trying to take the game on their shoulders that a team begins to lose. Maybe, just maybe, everyone should consider what may have happened if Miami played as a team! Miami was destroyed because the Spurs played tough, team basketball – not because Lebron had a dead-beat supporting cast. Everyone who watched the Spurs play this post season saw how beautiful and fun-to-watch basketball can be when played the way it was meant be played – and people STILL don’t get it!

Please correct me if I am wrong, but did I see Lebron leave the game at about 6:30 to go, with Heat down by 18? Why?

The guy who said “Follow my Lead”, and then after the 1st Q (I guess upset because the lead had dwindled), he sits at the end of the bench and sulks? And guess what, his Team did follow his lead. Then at the end he begins his walk ahead of the rest of his Team, ahead of his coach, separates himself form his team, to congratulate the Spurs. He is a historic physical athlete. This guy is no leader. I’m a Knick’s fan – as desperate as can be – I don’t want this guy.

Road to finals for both teams were different. The east does not have good teams. If the spurs were to be in the east, they’d make more finals appearances than the heat. Obviously the conferences are lop sided, so the heat make it to the finals by default. The west is much tougher and way more competitive… Spo is not a good coach. LBJ coaches that team more than he does, hence why he told his team to just follow his lead.. He has no strategy than to give the ball to LBJ. Pop leads the spurs team. A lot of credit goes to him. Same can not be said about Spo. But here’s an interesting idea, LBJ under Pop?? Can u say modern bulls with kawhi and the spurs team play? Lol jk but LBJ needs a better coach and team to actually win “not one, not two, not three…”

is Lebron a great player..of course he is(BEST PLAYER ON THE PLANET) …but stop comparing him to MJ KOBE ETC…REMEMBER HE HAD TO JUMP SHIP TO JOIN TWO STARS TO WIN A RING..AND IF IT WASNT FOR THE SPURS MISSING FREETHROWS LAST YEAR AND RAY ALLEN (TRAVEL) GREAT 3 IN LAST YEARS FINAL HE WOULD BE 1-4 IN THE FINALS…PLUS THE FACT THE EAST IS AWFUL ..DONT GET ME WRONG 4 FINAL IN A ROW AND TWO RINGS IS GREAT BUT PLEASE PEOPLE…WHEN HEAT WIN ITS ALL THE KING THE KING WHEN THEY LOSE ITS ALL DWADE BOSH PLAYED BAD..IF THEY PLAYED IN THE WEST THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN LUCKY TO GO TO TWO FINALS…C YA NEXT YEAR..COME TO LA

Let me just go on the record by saying I am a diehard Knick fan. Having said that, I also need to acknowledge that Lebron James is without a doubt the best player in the league AT THIS TIME. No, not the best ever. No, not the new-improved Jordan….but the best player right now. But even James can’t carry the load of dead weight that’s on that team. He may be the best player, but San Antonio is by far the best TEAM. No need for all the haters to hate on LBJ. Give him his due. He deserves it. But it’s time for him to take his talents out of South Beach. Hey LBJ….the fall is beautiful in New York…..

You failed to remember Pippen and Phil didn’t win when Jordan retired the first time. Then Jordan came back and they won three more. After that Pippen joined the Rockets and was eliminated in the first round; he did play with other great players there. That was his chance. After that he joins the Blazers and lost to baby jordan (Kobe) and Shaq, because Jordan wasn’t there to hold his hands and protect a 17 point led. If Pippen helped Jordan so much MJ wouldn’t have won 6 NBA finals MVP. After hearing you back up Pippen you would think Pippen could have won at least one like Leonard did for the Spurs. One more thing why didn’t phil take the Knicks coaching job? No Jordan, no Kobe, no Shaq and the one man gang Carmelo can’t play in the triangle offense that’s why Carmelo just opted out of his contract. Take dat Pippen bullsh-t somewhere else.

Sorry to all Carmelo fans. But I believe Carmelo is the most overrated superstar in the league. He is NOT a great player. He’s an all-star and all, but that’s it. There’s a reason why Phil won’t coach him. He cant be the best player in a championship team.

Yo” Ramon tell me what Pippen’s career would have been with out Jordan and what Jordan’s career would be with out Pippen. You put any other guy next to Jordan that was drafted in the same draft Pippen was, like Reggie Miller and MJ would have won the same amount of titles if not more with a guy like Reggie Miller who became a HOF as a leader of his own team. Scottie Pippen would have been an all-star at best with the Seattle sonics, but no were close to getting into the HOF. Speaking of the Knicks series, I remember Pippen being on the bench and Kukoc hitting the game winner because Pippen was afraid of the big shot under the spot light. Yeah the bulls did good for one season with out MJ, because no one knew what to expect, but the following season before MJ returned the bulls were 23-25 half way through the season.

Yeah…except that’s not what happened with the Kucoc shot. Pippen sat on the bench because he refused to go back into the game because was pissed that Phil designed the last shot for Kucoc. Pippen did want the shot…MJ was gone and he was finally their top guy.

People get me sick when they say that Jordan carried Pippen to six titles, so did Jordan carry Pippen after he retired , and they almost beat the Knicks without him, and im pretty sure that if they wouldnt have called that stupid foul on Pippen in game 5 they would have made it to the finals that year, but of course the league didnt want the bulls to make it to the finals without Jordan, cause then fans would have thought differently about Pippen, and they wouldnt think like some morons do, that say Jordan carried Pippen to six titles. And furthermore if Jordan carried Pippen to six titles then you could say the same the other way, cause Jordan never won a title without Pippen either. if it was so easy for him to win titles with or without Pippen how come they never won when Pippen wasnt on the team, and Jackson as the coach. There is a reason why he decided to retire instead of playing for another coach, cause he knew it wasnt going to be as easy with another coach.

Yes it was great basketball. . I have not seen the basketball moved that much in a long time. . .MIA didnt know what to do. . .I wonder if it was the Heats lackadaisical offense or lackadaisical Defenselol . . .that reporter guy cracked me up asking LBJ & Wade that after game 3.

Bhahahaahh Hahahaha oh oh oh…..HAhahahaaaaa what a Joke. Heat got beat down and sent home crying….of course its not lebrons fault..oh how can it be…….they call him the King and the greatest of all time…..hahahahah yeah right …

I think its better to lose in the playoffs than to lose in the final. Nothing makes me happier to see the Heat lose in 5 games. As for the “not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6″ ……….statement made by James, he needs help to make that count. It stops at 2!!

SPURS played great ball but that’s only a once in a lifetime for that to ever happen again. I doubt they’ll return back to the finals again…The West (OKC, TRAILBLAZERS, GOLDENSTATE) will expose them next year I’m sure of it. As for the Miami Heat will only get better…sad we didn’t get to see more of Oden, Beasley…Those guys were hungry to play! Just cant understand why Spo didn’t play them. See ya haters next year again cuz I guarantee Miami will be back in the Finals again period. #HeatNation

Hu. Hello! Did you not watch these last 5 games? The spurs have triple the room to grow with there 8-10 contributing shooters. Miami , with le-wheres the rest of my team, shouldn’t have 1 title hanging. Don’t forget who you “beat” to have those 2 titles and all the “hard work” the Heat had to face. Lol. Come on dude, the Heat have room to grow? I bet you are praying Mellow signs this year. Then they can bench Wade cause he’s so awesome. The Spurs will always be a threat to the East minus Tony, Tim, and Pop. Manu doesn’t count cause he’s a bench player. Oh wait. You could start S.A.’s bench against anyone and expect a win. Good luck with your Big 1 in Miami vs the entire NBA.

What’s it gonna take for Heat fans like you to realize your team is overrated!?
LBJ made it to the finals 4 straight years because they play in the D-League that is the Eastern Conference.
Who else is supposed to represent the East?
West – at least had some competitive teams over the years: Mavs/OKC/Spurs.

No reason why both teams can’t get another rematch in 2015.
Heat will make personnel (and I think Coaching) changes.

Spurs will add a piece or two…but will be in cruise control. Again, they will save Timmy/Manu for the playoffs…especially with the emergence of Kawhi as a legit heir to the Spurs.

“SPURS played great ball but that’s only a once in a lifetime for that to ever happen again. I doubt they’ll return back to the finals again…The West (OKC, TRAILBLAZERS, GOLDENSTATE) will expose them next year I’m sure of it.”

I’m certain the past opponents said that in 99, 03, 05, AND 07. And yet here we are, one of only a hand full of teams that has 5 or more titles. Oh and in case you weren’t watching, the heat were “in the finals” THIS year and for the three years previous. They only WON 2 of those four. The Spurs, on the other hand were “in the finals” 6 times and have won 5.

The Spurs beat all the teams you said would expose them next year. Whatever. be a sore loser but you really need to think things through before you write them down. The Heat wil never return to the Finals BTW

Spo’s moved inserting Haslem and Beasley in Game 5, what was he thinking? It exposed his lack of trust in his players. TRUST allowed Coach Pop to dive depth into his bench who are team players. Miami relied to much on their 3 All Stars, Congratz Spurs!!

You don’t make any sense, you are recriminating Spoelstra for putting Haslem and Beasly in the game, yet you are praising the Spurs for “diving into their bench”, so which is it? After the game 2 loss Popovich inserted Diaw in the starting line up, the clear MVP of the series and probably the single most important change that won them the series.

I would like to congradulate the Heat, the team has had a great 4 year run.
4 conference titles and 2 NBA finals. It’s time to rebuild all good things come to and end.
The king has been dethrowned. Their is a new sheriff in town
majicfan

Finally, someone who gets it. The Spurs gave up 23 turnovers and STILL won game 1 by 15 points. How did they do that, you ask? DEFENSE!!! They forced 17 turnovers and took advantage of that. Yes, our three point shooters lit it up in the fourth quarter but without the defense, we would have been playing from behind instead of adding to a lead.

I can’t believe people are saying Lebron didn’t have help. He only played with three future HOF’s and couldn’t get it done.
MJ played with a bunch of no names including Pippen. Pippen was an after thought until Jordan carried him on his back to six titles. I watch every game Jordan played in and trust me he did not have more help then Lebron. The only other All-Star jordan had on his team was Pippen and Pippen was an all-star only because Jordan demanded so much attention. Legends and HOF’s retired with out an ring because of Jordan, LEGENDS.

You’re wrong. MJ didn’t even get out of the first round until he had Scottie. On top of that he had the greatest Basketball mind in history in Phil Jackson holding the reigns. Jordan was an amazing athlete and contributed to his teams success, however he had an incredible team around for every championship. People that compare MJ and Lebron are morons, different positions, different eras, different circumstances to their success. I don’t understand how MJ is the best if Russell has nearly double the rings…Seriously though, stop comparing them, appreciate what they’ve contributed to the game.

How bout Rodman for the 2nd 3 peat while having an all star in Horace grant for da first 3 peat? Plus kukoc who was an all star. The team lost in da 2nd rd of playoffs without jordan which shows u how good those players were

Jordan’s championship teams were definately deeper and more talented then any of Labron’s Finals teams, but the desire to see Labron carry his team on his back is no where near as high as Jordan’s. If Jordan were in Labron’s shoes he would have noticed that his team was struggling offensively and would have went for over 50pts or more to win a game. When it comes to the will to win at any costs, Labron simply doesn’t have it compared to Michael, or even Kobe for that matter.

Lebron was great like always. But only he showed up. Bosh and wade had no input in the game. Role players didn’t show up. Lebron can’t win it by himself. Maybe against other teams he can but not against the spurs. Only Lebron came to play for miami. Wade looked awfull and played awfull. I don’t understand Bosh’s game anymore, getting sick and tired of his outside game. Role players couldn’t make a shot. The last 2 championships players like miller(memphis) , battier showed up with big plays as did chalmers. Norris cole was also a factor in this. But these finals? Only Lebron played, the rest of them were just plain awfull. LBJ GOAT!!!!

So following that logic you’re saying that Sam Jones (10 rings), Tom Heinsohn (8), and Jim Loscutoff (7) are all better players than Jordan???? Common!#! Enough measuring great players by the amount of rings. As it stands MJ is the GOAT but LeBron s game has the potential to be better than Jordan. He still has time to catch up.

D-wade was absolutely disgusting to watch during in this year’s final. I’m not talking about his inability to play, but his disgusting attitude. Plays no D, doesn’t hustle back after a bad shot, Duncan runs up and down the floor better than him. It looks like he didn’t want to be there.

i dont know why ppl keep talking about if miami was in the west they wouldnt make it but check miami record against the west. they were 22-10. when they play good teams they played better. they lost to sub 500 teams because tey just werent up to palying hard against those teams.

That’s the regular season moron in the playoffs it’s a different story if they would have been in the westerns conference playoffs I doubt they would have made it out the first round I mean think about it the Dallas mavericks went 7 games with the spurs as far as I can tell that was a better series then the finals it should have been a sweep

Spurs face doubt and criticism every year, age this age that, but winning well that never gets old tim Duncan best pf hands down n Leonard deserves that mvp, most underrated team ever, n coach pop the best

Wade looks about done. He’s not wade anymore. Chris Bosh is Meh. Carmelo won’t help with his me ball. If i’m Lebron i would be looking for a young talented team with some cap room and decent coaching. Pheonix comes to mind. Lebron with dragic and bledsoe some top draft picks and a decent bench. yes please. I guess he could go to the rockets but i just dont see it.

Despite our long-standing rivalry, I respect real Heat fans. Not those posers that walked out of the game in the 3rd quarter and booed their own team. No, the ones that stuck around and sheered on their team and knew that the Heat existed before the Big Three era.

We don’t want Carmelo, more people hugging the ball and cant play defense? Naw we need a wing man, a Luol Deng or a Trevor Ariza, we need some size with a Paul Gasol and a Marcin Gortat. Draft a nice point guard unless Miami wants to drop Chalmers and have Lebron run the point. In that case draft another wing physical defensive player.

Spurs played excellent and won the series but if Labron had one Superstar playing at his side, Heat could win the series.
I see Heat and they are similar to the old Cleveland and even worse. Miami GM need to have better players around Labron and it is time to hire a real coach.

MM
Are you serious? He got 2 superstar playing along with him all year. They just could not perform in superstar level in the end where it matter the most. What they need are players that will join them as a group and not players with an attitude that says “LeBron, Wade and Bosh will win it for us”. They need true championship teammates and not just wanna bes.

Did you watch the playoffs? Ppl throw ‘superstar’ label around too much. …Wade used to be a superstar n bosh was never a superstar…There are bout 5 superstars in da league.. The rest r really good players.

Ignorance at its finest. If LeBron had a superstar? Wade is still a superstar, he just didn’t play like one, which was contributed by the multiple defenders thrown at him. This Miami team worse than his Cleveland team? LOL you gotta be kidding me, or do you have short term memory. People call it the Miami Caveliers because nobody showed up to help, but it’s clear that this squad has WAY more talent than his Cleveland team. Keep making excuses for LeBron, simple fact is that in reality he should’ve only won 1 title if Lady Luck wasn’t at their side last year. Oh and also, it’s hard to get a better supporting cast if you’re asking them to take a major pay cut for their Big 1 and 1/2 and bust Bosh. Hope LeBron leaves Miami so we can watch all those bandwagon riders and “loyal” Miami fans disappear once again.

If you think that LeBron is the only superstar on Miami then you must think that the Spurs had no superstars. If you want to add a “superstar” to LeBron then also add one to the Spurs. The result still would’ve been the same according to your ignorance …… I mean “line of thinking”.

At the end of the day, Lebron is still the best player of his generation and the Spurs is a great team. No disrespect to Kawhii but Popovich is really the MVP even though he’s not a player. Pop is probably better than Phil. Phil had super teams just like the heat and the best player at the time.

I respect Duncan lots but please let’s not rank him higher than he really is within the all time greats. The dude had Robinson, Parker and Ginobli. And he always had Popovich. The first three defined his career. The last two doesn’t really add to his legacy…still top ten though.

What are you saying? Duncan is the greatest power forward to ever play this game. He have Parker and Ginobili? What about LeBron the Best Player of his generation, he got Wade and Bosh arguably top 10 players when they got together, and still could not win more than 2 championship. Pop contributed alot to the Spurs but do not discount Tim Duncan being a leader on the floor. And why would not the last two add to his legacy?

I can agree with you that Popp is probably better than Phil because he never had the best player on his roster (MJ, Kobe) and he has shown that he has been able to adjust his coaching style through 3 different decades BUT you must’ve started smoking something right before you made your comments about Duncan.

Many legends also had other legend/allstar/superstars on their teams.
Timmy is no doubt top ten all time – and that top ten does not include anyone currently playing including LBJ/Kobe…
Depending on who you ask – Timmy can crack the Top 5!
Kobe is probably 11th…LBJ – top 20 maybe.

Mike and others below already said it: Disparity between the conferences is getting unbearable. We need an open seeding system. Who knows if Miami would have been in the Finals if they face OKC or LAC to get there. In the East there was only one good team to beat last in the last 4 years (IND or BOS) and thats just not fair if you see that Spurs first round opponent pushes them to 7 games. (Awkward comment below saying that “if they [SAS] would have played like in the Finals they would have beat the Mavs in four…so who stopped them from doing that? Uh, the Mavs…?!)

Yes, Miami could make the final. Spurs played the game they have not been played against any team in NBA. Check out the % numbers. One of the best in NBA history. They had a few players besides trio shined like a star players in Miami series but others. Congrats to Spurs team! I also put a lot of blame on Miami Heat coaching that they did not improve the team, and their bench since last year while Spurs improved the team amazingly. What was wrong on Beasly that Spo did not let him play even a a few min in series, how about Greg Oden, Justin Hamilton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHzHrmJxtpU

who would you matchup against beasley and oden? no one is the answer, they are too slow and would cause more problems on defense. beasley would maybe add some offensive spacing, but oden has basically no offense. besdies the spurs are too athletic, it wouldnt have made a difference

As a Mavs fan, I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that this is exactly how Dallas beat Miami – a deep bench that played great defense and a starting five that could flow on offense at will.

Also, the only two teams to beat the Big 3 in a playoff series are from Texas.

Colin, you’re absolutely right man. As a die hard heat fan, I saw remnants of the 2011 finals again. Except this time, my guy D-wade arguably let LeBron down, as opposed to 2011 when it was the other way around. Constant ball movement from the spurs and a deep bench, much like the Mavs of a few years ago. Hopefully these guys decide they want to stay and Miami and D-wade who i think should personally opt out for a small contract to allow for some more quality bench guys.

imagine if lebron was ever the second best player on his team… like kobe was when he won all those rings.. lebron has just as many finals mvps as kobe and a lot more other credentials to boot… the order is JORDAN LEBRON and then KOBE.. don’t get it twisted

Are you an idiot? If LeBron went to the finals 10x and only win 5x versus Jordan going for 6x and winning it 6x and you are still saying 5x is better than 6x? Look closer you dummy. 6x champion is better than 5 and also not losing in the big game like LeBron.

Wow you know nothing about basketball, lebron has more mvp awards than kobe, same amount of final mvp awards, and dont forget kobe had shaq IN HIS PRIME, and Phil jackson, who has a 70 % winning percentage, kobe has been luckier than lebron , plain and simple

Kb24 if numbers dont lie, then by means of efficiency, you’ll LeBron has been arguably better than Kobe these past 7-8 years. Rings are indeed a measure of greatness, but not a strong indicator. Take Wade for example. 3 Rings but for the last two, especially his third, he was a much small factor than that historical run in 06

Miami will never beat the Spurs, watch the games the Spurs is a monster team they move the ball amazing is fun to watch, is like PlayStation game :p, and the Heat is on finals every year cause the East Conference is easy but the Heat is a easy team for the Spurs come on if you watch NBA you know the Spurs in a 10 games series beat the Heat 9-1 easily every game by 15+pts .
THE HEAT IS NOT TEAM FOR THE SPURS, THIS IS CRAZY HEAT FANS COME ON BE REALISTIC THE HEAT WILL NEVER BEAT SPURS EVERYBODY KNOWS.

IS CRAZY IF YOU THINK THE HEAT HAVE POSSIBILITIES AGAINST THE SPURS ;/
SPURS IN A 100 GAMES SERIES WIN 96 – 4.

Wade is one of my fav player, but he is getting old and it was a below par performance by him. Its about time he needs to go Chicago Bulls and retire then on… But i will still be a big fan of him. Cant forget his 2006 years

I agree with you Shiraz. It’s sad to see my guy Wade give such a sub-par performance and go into decline. However, I think he should opt-out and take less rather than go home to Chicago. I miss the 2004-2010 seasons Wade, 2007 excluded haha

I don’t think there is a single solution at all. The dismantling that the Heat suffered signals the need for some change. A lot of their previous success was based on a pressuring defense that relied on superior athletic ability to stymie opponents and generate easy scoring chances in transition. They don’t (can’t?) do that anymore, and adding Melo is not going to fix that.

LeBron and Wade are no longer young bucks and the trapping defensive style they played simply isn’t sustainable while playing 35+ minutes/game.

The Heat have some soul-searching to do. It will be interesting to see how (or if?) the Heat re-invent themselves. If LeBron stays, they will still have the best player in the world. Bosh will still be a sweet shooting big-man who can play decent defense. Wade’s athleticism has deserted him and its probably best if he develops a low post game and becomes a Ginobli-type 6th man. If they all sign for similar money, they will have limited money to go after free agents. In any event, there probably isn’t enough out there to warrant betting the farm and spending money this off-season.

Miami is actually in a pretty tight spot salary cap wise. It could become a lot less tight if the “big 3″ (and I use the quotes advisedly) exercise their early termination, but I wouldn’t count on Wade or Bosh doing that. Will someone pay them anywhere close to the 40 million over 2 years that they are each due if they opt into their current contracts? I suppose Bosh could potentially get something in the 50-60 million 4 year range. But would anyone be crazy enough to pay a similar amount for a broken and old-looking Wade that couldn’t even get through a 50 game regular season + playoffs?

All of the above to say: Miami’s had their run, and their team must undergo reinvention in order to compete at the same level again. Looking forward to seeing how or if Miami evolves!

You can’t compare the Heat with the Spurs. The Spurs is the best team ever in the NBA, the Heat is a average team who was lucky in 2013 finals and if the Heat was in Western Conference they finished like 7 or maybe out of playoffs.
The Spurs is better team than Miami by far (soooooo far) The Heat for San Antonio is like a 4 years old kid against 6’8 black man with a baseball bat hahahah. So easy Miami for San Antonio I think in a 60 games series the Spurs dominates 58 – 2 .

THIS IS BULLYING the Heat is so easy team for the Spurs (sooooooo easy) maybe the only contenders for the Spurs is the Thunder.(maybe, cause the Thunder need $$$ or leave Westbrook)

Miami gave that series to the Spurs. Not for one minute will I believe an entire team goes that cold for three games. The league has been losing fans and money since the MIA big three came together. What better way to gain them back than by uplifting the team everyone thinks optimizes he definition of one. Laugh, criticize, or mock me but in you mind you are questioning Miami’s play as well and wouldn’t if you didn’t think the same.

“Not for one minute will I believe an entire team goes that cold for three games.” – Uh, did they play on their own? If I saw the games right, the Spurs were dominant when they needed to be. Besides, if you wanna throw a conspiracy theory then why wasn’t this Finals agaisnt OKC, so that the future NBA “king” could get his first ring???

I don’t question Miami’s play, I question why they thought, for a second, that “hero-ball” style would make them beat a TEAM like the Spurs, who were rolling into the Finals. In fact, of the 16 wins, the Spurs won 12 games by 15+…

Yeah well if this comment was so crazy or dumb you all wouldn’t even acknowledge it. Fact is you need to try and prove to others how “great” the Spurs are when in reality Miami threw the game. It’s obvious they couldn’t let the refs do anything because they were already getting scrutinized early on. James is the face of the NBA (at the moment still) and anything they tell him or his team goes. All the NBA championships since 2000 have been shams in attempts to appease fans. Look at the numbers each year for who people are expecting to win or want to win. Overall this year no one wanted Miami to win. Last year was a fluke for them as well. Ray wasn’t supposed to hit that three.

The Spurs vs OKC was a joke as well and the bigger jokes Kawhi Leonard as a finals MVP. A guy that will never make the HOF is the finals MVP. What a friggin joke, but all of it was to appease the whinny fans (mosty Laker ones) that have hated the forming of the Miami 3 and have cried about basketball as a team sport going down. End result is the NBA puts the “TEAM” everyone looks at as noble to be the winner. Indiana was better than the Spurs, OKC was better than them as well. Spurs got a gifted championship just to gain more fans back. NBA numbers will be up more than any year.

Miami threw the game? I guess Shawn Kemp’s Seattle team threw game 5 when they were upset by Denver in the first round. Portland threw their finals against the Bulls because the league wanted MJ to win in order to make more money. I hope you realize that we landed on the moon. Or are you a conspiracy theorist?

Miami didn’t ‘give’ the Spurs anything. The Spurs TOOK that series with great coaching, stifling defense, dazzling ball handling, lights out shooting, and, most of all, a TOTAL TEAM EFFORT. If the Heat had all those, perhaps we would be waiting to see if they can indeed pull off the miracle comeback of the League’s history. As it is,

“San Antonio is back on top once again. The Spurs are the 2014 NBA Champions.”

LMAO Miami had all that and more. Look at how they played up until those last three games. Game one they were full control UNTIL James ended up having to leave. Then game two was more of what I expected for the series. Games 3-5 Miami flat out threw the game. Wade is ailing and his knees are bad, but he kept missing easy layups. It was blatant. The whole thing was staged to make the Spurs look like a super team with no hero so that the league won’t lose money from these weak squads that don’t want to compete against super teams of stars. Peace.

First off, I wonder how many of you are “Spurs fans” and how many of you are “anybody playing against Miami” fans. I bet most of you are the latter of the two. Regardless to that, I am a Lebron fan but i am not bias to the fact that the Spurs were just the all out better TEAM. Pop is in the top three best coachs of all time to me. It is impossible to beat a team that has bought into a system like the spurs have. Miami’s bench as well as some the starters were exposed. I also believe Spo was exposed as well. I for one, do not want melo to join the heat. He doesn’t play defensive and demands the ball too much. I would much rather Trade Bosh and mario and get Kevin love. It brings a more consistant shooter and a toughness on the offensive and defensive boards that Miami disperately needs. Lebron can only do so much by himself. He scored 25+ each game of the Finals. Where were the other super stars? I personally believe Bosh is highly over rated and has always been a product of his environment. In Portland he was the man by default seeing as how there was no one else there and in Miami he benefited by having Lebron to get him open shots.

I don’t like the Heat. I believe it’s a very overrated “team”. But one thing is for sure. They have mustered 2 rings in 4 attempts. 4 straight finals. You can’t deny or hide that. Obviously, more is expected… you have 3 all star players, paying luxury penalties, etc, you want 6 out of 4 rings. But adding stars is not building a team. Sours made it painfully clear this year. I don’ t care about the Spurs blowing game six last year… the Heay defended that last minute like the best defensive team, blocked an easy basket righ under the rim, Le Bron hit a 3 pointer before Allen hit his to bring the game to reach… but it’ s all gone now.
I don’ t get all this Heat-hate, or more to core, this LeBron-hate. He’s not Jordan? Sure! Who’s Jordan for that matter?
Let’s praise the Spurs for their superb game execution. Let’s praise them for the beauty of their execution. Lets praise… THEM! Remeber that this was more (much, much, much more) about the Spurs winning, than the Heat loosing.

This was about coaching. Miami got out coached. Spurs made key adjustments after game two that explored Miami weaknesses, their bench depth. Spurs kept fresh legs in the game and moved the ball to pressure Miami’s defense.
When you do this you make the defense work harder on each possession, and by the third quarter the other team will have no legs. With not legs you get beat by 20 points.

Really! If that’s the case, then why did Miami beat this same Spurs team last year? Spur just played a great Finals period! So just leave it at that instead of all this team ball vs individual ball. This was San Antonio’s year!

For a big guy who get 20+ million / season and couldn’t demand a double team, couldn’t average a double digit in rebound and too lazy to post up, they should trade Bosh and get a real rebounding, shot blocking defensive anchor center.
Bosh outside games is useless when playing against Spurs. If he don’t want to do post up play, at least try to get a couple of offensive rebound.

Crying about it won’t get you a ring, you need to join 5 time champ “Tim” Duncan in San Antonio if you ever want to win again. We will trade future hall of famer Matt Bonner for Lebron, Wade and Bosh. Maybe Lebron will even get a starting role. No promises.

San Antonio didn’t NEED to ‘stop’ Lebron. All we needed to do, which we did, was stop the rest of the team. One man does not a team, or championship, make. Lebron is good, possibly even one of the greatest ever, but he is only ONE MAN. The Spurs have built a TEAM where every cog fits and works to perfection. Sometimes, as with all machines, the machine breaks down. When that happens, the Spurs organization sets about fixing the machine, oiling the machine, and getting it running well once again. That’s exactly what Pop and the boys did this year. The machine broke down in game 6 and the result was devastating. Pop and the boys retooled, reoiled, refocused and went out and finished what they started last year. No one player did that, it was the entire organization. Team, not man. That’s the key to championships.

That’s why the Spurs wouldn’t trade a TEAM for one man. There’s just no future in it.

just another guy with some rings lol do you know how many NBA greats never won any? ewing, malone, wilkins, gervin, stockton, reggie miller, barkley, elgin baylor, even steve nash!!
5 mvps and 2 finals mvps is hardly a mortal… at lebrons age jordan was only able to take his team to 2 finals, lebron has already gone to 5 and has as many finals MVPs as kobe

Damn all you LeBron haters are going to be so disappointed when LeBron is laughing all the way into the NBA Hall of Frame, (first ballot)! Those numbers you just showed just confirmed his Hall a Frame status!

I don’t think any Spurs player averaged more than 20 ppg in the series (though Kawhi Leonard did average nearly 24 ppg in games 3-5), which to me shows good team basketball. Kawhi becomes the 4th youngest to win Finals MVP and the second youngest since the inception of the draft lottery. The Heat may have to look in the offseason for changes while the Spurs have proven that “If it’s not broke, why fix it?” still works. ESPN says the Heat are still the favorites for next season to win the Finals at 5-2 but I am curious how when that number changes with the additional changes Miami may or will have to face soon. Congrats again to the best trio in NBA history and congrats to the unlikely hero of the Finals, Kawhi Leonard.

Made finals 4 years in a row in a Eastern conference, having 3 of the 10 best players in the league + accomplished veteran ringchasers who played for less money then they were worth, what an achievement. They won their second championship by Popovich mistake and the first one by poor refereing. This year was an abosulute beatdown. NBA needs to have an open seeding, let’s make that happen, I am tired of seeing these clowns brag about how good of a team they are when they face no competition throughout the year until the finals.

The Nba must realign or at least flip/flop east vs west in the playoffs. Miami played absolutely nobody to get there 5 times. Questionable call against OKC for their first title. Fluke plays for their second title. San Antonio just proves to all those one on one players out there that team basketball with a great coach wins. Best message ever sent to our young players.

Well I guess that MIAMI learned the hard way about what a team is all about. So much for the BIG THREE. For miami it has to be tough when you have to rely on one person to win games for your team.I will say that the HEAT will not be the same after this beatdown.

All you haters were waiting for this moment! Miami will be just fine as long as the great Pat Riley is in charge! Everybody was burying San Antonio last year after they lost and look what happen! Everybody buried Miami after their first year together and look what happen in years two and three! Miami will be just fine!

Of course they b fine idiot they play in the garbage eastern conference that for the most part has teams below 500 in the playoffs each year so of course they b fine and will have a chance to make it fine why wouldn’t they when there’s no competition to go thru in the playoffs don’t reply with your bs comment about oh the heat have a winning record during the regular season against the west playoffs is were it matters fairy

I have no problem with people bashing Lebron or the Heat! It just highlights how dumb and ignorant you are! Lebron has nothing to prove, nothing! He’s carried every team he’s played for and is more scrutinized than the former greats as more people are able to offer their opinions publicly thanks to social media!

Match-Up is most of the time the key in winning a series.. and it showed very well in this series.
Look at how Miami went up against the Spurs compared to Dallas..
Now let the rebuilding starts this off season.
Players should go out: Jones, Oden, Douglas, and to a stretch Beasley and Chalmers.
And instead of acquiring big name (Anthony) why not pick solid players for key position.
Players like; Brandon Knight (PG), A. Blatche or G. Monroe to man the middle, if they have enough to
spend how about Cousins..

Watching the final game made me grimace. Kudos to Lebron for trying to lead his team by example, unfortunately the rest couldn’t follow. The heat should try to achieve great “team basketball”, after all it is a team sport. Sticky ball can only win you so much games, but will eventually catch up to you especially when facing a team like the Spurs. Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs for winning the NBA championship and showing the world how basketball should be played.

So since they won a championship that’s how basketball should be played…? So if that’s how basketball is suppose to be played then why did that style not work the past 7 years? In case you don’t know, this was their first championship since 2007? But hey, just saying!

And Miami was irrelevant until they sold there soul to get bosh and LeBron and then only became a title contender because they couldn’t develope there team through Draft picks like most teams in the nba do for example the spurs but hey just saying idiot

I hope this serves as a lesson to all the GM’s out there that a bunch of superstars can overcome a team that plays as a team. I know the Spurs’ talents but it’s their discipline, dedication and trust in their system that pulls them through. As a Lakers fan I hope Buss’ and Kupchak sees this as their blueprint with regards to rebuild. Start by waiving Nash (or convert him to a mentor or special coach) trade Pau and should let Kobe rests more. Develop guys like Young, Meeks, HIll, Johnson, Henry, Marshall, Farmar and this supporting cast, with the right coach is on par with Spurs. All they need is a superstar that will take over Kobe in the near future and a Pippen – like partner (Melo – Love, for example).

Congrats to the Heat for their achievement of 4 straight Finals even if they won only 2. Any team around the league would be happy with those results but the Heat raised the expectations so high with their own predictions that it is considered an underachivement.
They need more quality personnel but it could only be people willing to sign for low contracts but with no guarantee to win titles.
I don’t think Melo would be the answer. They need a point guard and presence on the inside.
Rebuilding process is starting now. Not sure LBJ will want to be a part of it.

Head need to stack better. Off Chalmers!!! He made Heat lose!!! Take Melo, the King can play 4 in D and 1 on the offensive end. On the other side… Next season… pls Pop keep whole team and take only a new player… Mario Chalmers in black and silver to win a ring more that LeFlop! Go Spurs go!!!

The Heat management has no one to blame but themselves. They were already a small team last year yet they let go of Andrew Miller who was a big factor in their series win over the Spurs last year. For a reason beyond me, I also can’t understand how a team who just won back to back championship will tighten their belt and gamble on the useless Greg Oden for a cheap price. Like the old saying goes, you get what you paid for.

Where is that “Lunatic, Blabbering Junkie” aka lbj now?? Where are all the heat fans? No comment, much? Awww, I almost feel sory for them. And seeing all the big heat fans in Miami leave the game before the game was over; PRICELESS.. Go Spurs, go COY Pop!! And for the record, Heat are just lucky it wasn’t a sweep..

Wade is simply getting older. He has an agressive style and that wears down his body. Although the Heat must have really good doctors to keep the 3 good players (and for example the 38 year old Ray Allen) healthy most of the season. Last season they had luck on their side. It’s just the real difference this year. James is an athletic player but he is also far far away from the diversity or flexibility of Bryant or Jordan. He has a good talent and exceptionally outstanding physical abilities but not even the great MJ could win championships without a really strong team (he had Rodman, Pippen, Harper, Kerr, Longley, Kukoc etc. to support him).

Lets put it this way. The team that didn’t make the playoffs in the West Phoenix Suns would have been number 3 in the East. The team that was #5 in the West would have been #2 in the East and the team that was #3 in the West would have been #1 in the East. The Wolves would have made the playoffs in the East. There is a huge disparity between the level of teams in the 2 conferences and the Finals is a proof of this difference.

Actually the top seeded 16 teams must play in the play off regardless of Conference. It that is the case, Miami will not be in the finals. This kind of conference system eliminate chances for some best teams in the west

4 consecutive finals appearances is impressive, but we can’t overrate it either. Sure, the spurs haven’t done it. But i can almost guarantee that no team could in the western conference. Switch the heat with any team in the west this year, and that western team makes NBA finals in a weak eastern conference. Still an impressive run by the big 3. but wade and bosh are no longer top 10-15 players. Looks like lebron might be leaving

for me,thers nothing to humiliate about.. heyy its been four years they played in finals..so what about others???its a good job after all..ive been Miami heat followers. And I never turn may back for this team. See u again in finals next yr..HEAT : )

Bias much? This article is making the Heat out to be a victim. Just like every other article where they win they’re gods of basketball.
“The Heat? Merely, and always, the guys with the targets on their backs.”

“That, after all, is social media’s job, along with the rest of this what-have-you-done-for-me-five-minutes-from-now culture. It musters no patience, offers no comfort and certainly treats nothing sacred, particularly with this team, whose critics outnumber its fans 10-to-1, maybe 100-to-1.”

Give me a damn BREAK. Trying to throw some pity into this by mentioning social media? How is that relevant at all? EVERY TEAM is victim to social media. Not just the heat. And As for the nothing sacred part? Try that with real fans of non star studded teams that have losing history in the past 10 years. They hold every win sacred. Not like most front runner heat fans that just just

exactly. on previous pieces, aschburner never gave the spurs much credit. it’s more like miami lost cause wade and bosh just weren’t playing well. did it cross his mind that the reason the heat weren’t playing well was because the spurs defense just didn’t allow them to? much as people have maligned bonner’s defense, pop has actually used him to defend against howard. in games played against the lakers, howard was often frustrated defending a smaller blair that he criticized blair’s tactics of shooting floaters rather than going strong against him to the basket — smart on blair’s part. but it’s all part of coaching and tactics that make pop superior over other coaches. and still some in the media undermine that.

exactly. on previous pieces, aschburner never gave the spurs much credit. it’s more like miami lost cause wade and bosh just weren’t playing well. did it cross his mind that the reason the heat weren’t playing well was because the spurs defense just didn’t allow them to? much as people have maligned bonner’s defense, pop has actually used him to defend against howard. in games played against the lakers, howard was often frustrated defending a smaller blair that he criticized blair’s tactics of shooting floaters rather than going strong against him to the basket — smart on blair’s part. but it’s all part of coaching and tactics that make pop superior over other coaches. and still some in the media undermine that .

Heat leads 22-6 in first 7 minutes of game… Coach Pop calls for a regular time-out only, fixes his team with substitutions only and that worked pretty well… In 3rd quarter when Spurs started hammering Heat, our wise Spo started calling for any kind of time-out. Was he really thinking to disrupt Spurs game like that? Or was he only trying to panic his own players? Beside making some ridicolous substitutions (Lewis in for Haslem and back to his decision after 2mins then back again after 3 more mins)… Really Heat stop stacking ,start to build instead pls. And a good start should be a proper coach

Enough with this “4 finals in a row” bulls..t.
Miami got to the finals through a lowly Eastern Conf tryout. Both in reg.season and in PO’s.
What if they had to play more games during reg.season vs teams like OKC, GSW, LAC or HOU (to name a few)?

Beware, I’m NOT saying they didn’t deserve it but one MUST take into account that playing in a weaker Conf. makes your overall record much better. I re-calculated each of the playoffs 16 teams reg.season record weighting it by taking into account the muche different no. of games played in-division, in-conference and extra-conference.
In the East, only Brooklyn would have had a better record; Miami’s would’ve been the same; all others’ would’ve been worse.
Ranking all 16 teams together, Miami would’ve had the 7th record.

They are talking about re-balancing the access to PO’s by ranking all League teams together BUT… if you count each team’s record over games played vs. different level teams, the final result will ALWAYS be “incorrect” from an overall, real, strength point of view.
Besides, we should know very well (and surely NBA KNOWS very well) that all this toy is running around money.
And playoffs mean a lot of money for those teams achieving them.
I’m pretty sure franchises like PHX or MIN would’ve liked very much to be there in place of the last-qualified East teams.

And regarding that Jordan finals record comparison, what a stupid statistic to compare with.

You’re gonna punish James final record for carrying a Cavaliers team that never stood a chance to the finals? Jordan never did that. Jordan lost in the playoffs several times.

And winning in the Finals takes a team. Yes, players can do more for their team than other players, but at the end of the day Jordan won’t make it either if his team was deficient at all the other positions.

And I don’t mean to take anything away from the bulls’ era, but there is a trend now shifting towards more team-based rather than player-based performances. I really can’t compare today’s spurs to any of the past championship teams. This was great fundamental team basketball, with just EPIC offense and defense as a team. They looked like a team of Lebron James’s. What can one Lebron do against 5?

Word! LBJ was fantastic, but where was Wade in the Finals? And Bosh? And Chalmers? And Mike Miller? (Gone!) And Battier? (OK now called Rashard Lewis)

Naw, you’re not going to win it alone – even if you’re called the King – when the other team is clicking on all cylinders. Apart from that the Miami defense was nowhere near what they showed in the last 2 years…

They pretty much had 2 starting line ups the only reason this championship for the spurs was even possible, here let’s name all the ppl who could have a starting position; danny green, kawhi Leonard, patty mills, Boris diaw, tiago splitter, manu ginobli, tony parker, Tim Duncan. 8 players legit good if any one of those players took Chalmers position they would have won u can’t have one player against a team that has that many players, and the only reason this was all possible is because they ain’t getting paid I expect to see someone getting paid and danny green off the bench.

Lebron James is smart enough to learn from this finals. The spurs play like a team that’s suffered through something together. They played with purpose. It would be foolish to leave the Heat and chase a ring with another franchise, after all the work the Heat have put in together as a team.
Yes, the Heat were NOT a championship team this year. And Yes, adjustments need to be made. But the Heat were not bad either. The Spurs were simply better as a whole, and really a lot of it was the result of players working hard together through several years and trusting each other.
Another franchise would probably not give Lebron a better chance at a championship. I really hope he stays with the Heat.
And I don’t think we need superstars, but definitely one or two more big role players would help. Mike miller left a hole and that was to be expected honestly.

Maybe LJ didn’t do what he’s able to. It was a team loss, rather than depended on one superstar (LJ). If Miami wishes to redemp, they need some freshness specially in point guard position and some other bench players. They have to do a lot. Anyway, keep resilient & stay intact LJ!!! People, who want to see you holding more than 5 finals trophies, are much more than those who’re glad to find you failing. Take some rest and GO FORWARD!!!

yeah thats super sad..
I appreciate the Heat were a bought team.. everyone know that.. lux tax much.. Spurs.. not so much…and yet rumours swirling around carmelo.. wow. did we just not show the …. dont let the ball stick philosophy works.. guess Heat dont get clues much like a teenage guy hitting on prostitute… if you pay for it.. you get it… ugh.. he will never get it .. even if they pay for it.. Carmelo will make the ball stick much more than with the big 3.. Learn Nba.. its not about stars and egos… its about a team.. Welcome to the new age..
Congrats.. Sugar K Leonard. true developed team player.. stop buying stars.. start developing.. Green.. develops.. Mills.. scouted.. developed… Leonard.. drafted.. late in draft.. developed… Splitter.. wow what a great young player…Spurs future is bright… can we say the same for the heat..

Except for that in the NBA’s history, most NBA champions paid for their championships; Lakers several times during Magic’s and Kobe’s era. Boston’s big three plus Bird’s Celtics. Last team to be built like the Spurs, were the Bad Boy Pistons

Big Mavs Fan here – but I gotta say that the Mavs would’ve been out in 4 games had the Spurs played the first round anywhere close to how they played the Finals. The Mavs certainly helped the Spurs get into championship mode, but they wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Spurs from the Finals. East and West definately not the same level, but Mavs and Spurs neither…